Friday, December 9, 2016

Solar and wind power may get the headlines when it comes to renewable energy. But another type of clean power is heating up in the hills just north of Sonoma wine country. Geothermal power uses heat from deep inside the Earth to generate electricity. The Geysers, the world’s largest power-producing geothermal field, has been providing electricity for roughly 850,000 Northern California households, and is set to expand even further.

Producers Notes: When I first began researching this story for QUEST, I was surprised that I hadn’t heard more about geothermal energy. It’s never lumped into that renewable energy laundry list that’s recited by politicians and journalists alike — you know, “…solar, wind, hydroelectric and biofuels”. But it turns out that geothermal energy has really great potential. Continue Reading / Additional Photos / Videos

The point is, while we all know what we should be doing to save the planet….how many of us are actually doing it? Hmmm, thought so.

So this is why Creative Citizen (the green wiki peeps) and Causecast (the one stop philanthropy shop), decided to join forces to create Hype to Habit — a new weekly web series. Each week, we’ll deliver three eye-popping environmental stories paired with actionable solutions, so you won’t be left feeling overwhelmed and under-prepared. We believe that together our actions can move the green needle.

In this episode of Hype to Habit we’ll cast our (pink) eye over Los Angeles beaches, give you the lowdown on mountaintop removal and give you a taste of our favorite new font. Check it out.

Which visual would you remember? Eva Mendes in Vogue Magazine Nude Wrapped In Plastic or sitting in a cafe stirring a coffee? If you had a PSA to make and Hollywood tossed you a few stars, such as Eva Mendes, Ben Affleck, Reese Witherspoon, and Garth Brooks, what would you do with them. Well if you are Divided We Fall, you would take these stars and make the most boring video possible.

Take Garth Brooks and have him act like he is fixing a chandelier. But Eva Mendes in a cafe and have her stir some coffee. Or Ben Affleck building itsy bitsy furniture for a doll’s house? (Yes, a doll’s house). Or Reese Witherspoon window shopping for shoes? These are the inexplicable visuals for a new PSA for Divided We Fail. We think they should have gone with Vogues idea, and let Eva’s real talents shine. Face it she is good at looking hot with an attitude, which would sell me on just about anything.

If you’re looking to buy an all-electric car you can drive on the freeway, your options are limited. $100,000 will buy you an electric sports car from Tesla. But an affordable all-electric vehicle remains elusive, due to the difficulty in making a battery that is powerful, long-lasting, and cheap. QUEST visits a local battery laboratory and investigates the odds of a breakthrough.

Plug-in hybrids run for a certain distance on batteries. So far, hackers have been able to create plug-in hybrids that run for about 10 miles on batteries. After that, they revert to standard hybrid operation, which uses gas and electricity. Continue Reading / Additional Photos / Videos

If your a G/Style queen, this might just be the electric bike for you. The French have come to your rescue, jumping in the electric bike market with the E-Solex 2, which has a blood line running back over 60 years. The first version was the VeloSoleX a 50cc gas fueled motorized bicycle, which rolled out in 1946 in Paris. The new E-Solex drops the gas motor for an electric one, with 400 watts of power pushing this bike up to 21 mph in fast mode. There is also an option to run in eco mode, which brings the speed down to around 16 mph and will get you driving distance of 37 miles before needing a charge. The battery is a rechargeable Lithium-ion, which keeps the weight down and enables quick recharging.

This sexy little electric bike cost around $2100, but we couldn’t find it for sale in the United States yet. Maybe someone should bug their local bike store to carry oh so sexy thing of a bike. I think this would be a hit with college and high school students, who know how to live a G Life.

Architect Michelle Kaufmann shows us how simple it is to make your very own modern clean outdoor non-wood burning fireplace using some simple stones and alcohol filled cans . This is part of Michelle’s Green It Yourself Projects. Continue Reading / Additional Photos / Videos

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Our guest this week is health motivator and alchemist, Daniel Vitalis. Regular readers of We like It Raw will remember Daniel from his fascinating youtube videos on water magic and elixir crafting. Chances are that your reaction to those videos was the same as mine.

“Wow! Who is this guy and how can I learn more from him!”

Daniel’s videos were originally produced for thebestdayever.com community by Len Foley and David Wolfe. In addition working with that tag team, Daniel is a raw food chef, personal health strategist and co-founder of Ambrosia Mystique – a chocolate and elixir catering enterprise, (big thanks to Daniel’s business partner, and my friend, Gabrielle Brick for setting up the introduction).

Daniel has been a student of live food for the past 14 years. His journey’s have taken him through a vast range of health experience that have sculpted his current mantra: design and eat food with total and complete purpose. Continue Reading / Additional Photos / Videos

You ever wonder how they feed all the animals we have in our Zoos and Aquariums? Well, wonder no more. Quest takes us behind the scenes to see how Animal Chefs take care of the animals in their care. The diets are amazingly different for each and every animal. So, these chefs can’t really qualify to be a GreenChef, but they do seem to care a lot about making sure the animals get what they want and need to stay healthy in captivity. I am guessing human captives wish the prison chefs would take the same care in the food they serve. Continue Reading / Additional Photos / Videos

Are you over my Portland Post? Well, dig in, because yes, here is yet another example of G Living Portland Style. The PBS series, voiced over by Brad Pitt e², has featured Portland as a city designed to the human scale. Meaning a city which has been built to give you a sense of place. You are able to walk across a street without getting killed, or feeling like an alien amongst the 6 lanes of cars. Just simple old school European village concepts re-shaped for the modern over crowded world we live in now. I know here in L.A. my favorite spots are Main Street Venice/Santa Monica and 3rd Street in Santa Monica, just because of the restrictions on cars. Get rid of the cars and all of the sudden a city feels so much better. You can actually hear birds, trees, and the person next to you. Shocking I know.

I have always thought Venice should ban all cars and have a simple Light Rail system and expanding of the Canals. It would become the most prized place to live in L.A. They could setup parking garages in key locations to all the tourist and residence. If they did something like that, I might even stay in L.A.

Updated on Volvos push to become an electric car company. The company says they have a 5 year $1.2 Billion investment and plan to bring the Recharge concept to market. The project started back in 2006 and they showed off the Prototype C30 in 2007. Since then the company seems be in hiding and may even be on the chopping block and sold off by the parent company Ford. They are looking for buyers, but no takers as of yet.

Ford vice president of sales and marketing Ken Czubay said in a statement.: “We continue to operate in a very challenging economic and competitive environment,”

What does that mean, for all the very promising technology designed into the C30? Will we ever see it in a Volvo or any of the other Ford brands? Isn’t this exactly the thing Ford needs to save their company? The prototype test vehicle uses the same type of technology GM says they are rolling out in the Volt. An electric motor system assisted by a small gas engine generator, which would only produce electricity for the electric motors to us. The Volvo concept takes that a step further by placing the motors in the wheels.

The Prototype C30 Technology test and concept vehicle that works: an electric car with a combustion engine as backup. It’s called the Volvo ReCharge, and it reminds us a lot of the Chevy Volt. Except that it looks likes a Volvo C30 hatchback and has funky green wheels.

If you live in Portland, chances are you’re a bike loving, tree hugging, raincoat wearing, beer guzzling pale faced greenie. I see you shaking your heads. But lets not generalize, or anything, lets just look at the facts. Portland has more beer pubs than Starbucks, more bike lanes, than highways, and more rain than, well anywhere on earth.

My guess is that there are no limits to loving your bike if you live in Portland, am I right? For example, it would be completely normal to say, use bikes as moving vans, or ride around in big groups completely naked. (naked Portlanders on bikes after the jump)

The media definitely makes the rest of us feel that way, when we hear things like, Portland has more bike commuters than any other U.S. city. Portland’s city officials even encourage their citizens to stop driving completely, by giving them bike lanes, bike traffic lights and even bike parking. Oh yeah, not to mention the light rail trains with bike friendly spots inside the trains. Green freak land is really the only good description I can think of for this place.

All of this encouragement to get on a bike has had a major effect on the cities economy. In addition to growing the number of riders, Portland has developed a thriving bike industry. There are independent bike frame builders, bike shops, and local cycle clothing companies. Of course, there are also Portland-headquartered national companies such as Nike and Columbia Sportswear that contribute to the city’s bicycling interests, but a recent New York Times piece focused on local businesses like Team Estrogen, an online retailer that sells cycling clothing for women.